Paintings hidden in the margins of books
Few of the world’s readers have seen these secret decorations. An obscure form of art hidden under a surface of gold.
“There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye,” said the poet W.H. Auden, That “other story” in things is often much more complete than what we see at first glance, or at least for its secretive qualities. This is the case of fore-edge paintings, and which recently made their magnificent appearance online.
These paintings first appeared in the Middle Ages, but several English Bibles from the mid-17th century included them, and their zenith was at the end of the 18th century, popularized by Edwards of Halifax, the bookbinders and publishers. They produced the most exquisite fore-edge paintings in their most treasured volumes.
To see them it is necessary to open the book and make a ‘fan’ with the pages, and which are often painted in gold so that when the book is closed they cannot be seen. The Boston Public Library has one of the best collections of these fore-edge paintings in books in several languages, man of which have now been digitalized so that we can all see them. The library currently has 258 high-resolution images, gifs, videos, articles and information.
Related Articles
When ancient rituals became religion
The emergence of religions irreversibly changed the history of humanity. It’s therefore essential to ask when and how did ancient peoples’ rituals become organized systems of thought, each with their
Seven ancient maps of the Americas
A map is not the territory. —Alfred Korzybski Maps are never merely maps. They’re human projections, metaphors in which we find both the geographical and the imaginary. The cases of ghost islands
An artist crochets a perfect skeleton and internal organs
Shanell Papp is a skilled textile and crochet artist. She spent four long months crocheting a life-size skeleton in wool. She then filled it in with the organs of the human body in an act as patient
A musical tribute to maps
A sequence of sounds, rhythms, melodies and silences: music is a most primitive art, the most essential, and the most powerful of all languages. Its capacity is not limited to the (hardly trivial)
The enchantment of 17th-century optics
The sense of sight is perhaps one the imagination’s most prolific masters. That is why humankind has been fascinated and bewitched by optics and their possibilities for centuries. Like the heart, the
Would you found your own micro-nation? These eccentric examples show how easy it can be
Founding a country is, in some ways, a simple task. It is enough to manifest its existence and the motives for creating a new political entity. At least that is what has been demonstrated by the
Wondrous crossings: the galaxy caves of New Zealand
Often, the most extraordinary phenomena are “jealous of themselves” ––and they happen where the human eye cannot enjoy them. However, they can be discovered, and when we do find them we experience a
Think you have strange reading habits? Wait until you've seen how Mcluhan reads
We often forget or neglect to think about the infinite circumstances that are condensed in the acts that we consider habitual. Using a fork to eat, for example, or walking down the street and being
The sky is calling us, a love letter to the cosmos (video)
We once dreamt of open sails and Open seas We once dreamt of new frontiers and New lands Are we still a brave people? We must not forget that the very stars we see nowadays are the same stars and
The sister you always wanted (but made into a crystal chandelier)
Lucas Maassen always wanted to have a sister. And after 36 years he finally procured one, except, as strange as it may sound, in the shape of a chandelier. Maassen, a Dutch designer, asked the